Related Stories

Anglesey council has come top of a recycling league of all Wales' local authorities, "a whisker" ahead of Denbighshire council.

Bridgend council increased its recycling rate by the largest amount, for the same period, between July and August last year.

It jumped from recycling 33% in September 2009 to 51% last year.

The Welsh Assembly Government has a goal for all councils to recycle 70% of all waste by 2025.

Both Anglesey and Denbighshire councils recycle around 57% of their waste, with the island authority just finishing on top.

Councillor Hefin Wyn Thomas, Anglesey council's portfolio holder on the environment, said that after previously having a poor record for recycling, the council and local residents should be "proud" of this achievement.

“Start Quote

Jonathan Eastwood, the council's chief waste management officer, said the top spot had been reached due to the recently introduced food waste collection services.

"Everyone on the island now receives this service and it has been well researched and designed to make collecting food waste easy and mess free," he said.

The waste is turned into a soil improver and the council plans to hand out the compost to local residents for free this year.

Bridgend moved from being the second worst in Wales to being in the top five for recycling.

Council leader Mel Nott, said the authority's results were "remarkable".

"Communities were understandably wary when we introduced this new way of collecting recycling and waste and we did encounter some issues and concerns at the beginning of the scheme," he said.

'Very proud'

"But to their credit, residents worked with us and the results speak for themselves.".

Mr Nott added residents should feel "very proud indeed that they are personally making such a difference to their local environment".

Councillor John Spanswick, cabinet member for communities, added: "If these are our results based on three months of the scheme, I can only imagine how impressive they will be when we mark our first year."

Environment minister Jane Davidson said: "I believe this is more proof that Wales leads the way in what to do with our waste."

She said she wanted to thank all the councils for their hard work, but if the goal of recycling 70% by 2025 - and being "zero waste" by 2050 - was to be reached, "we cannot afford to lose momentum".

BBC links

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.